Funeral mass set for ex-GOP leader Joseph Mondello

Listen to this article

A funeral mass has been set for Joseph Mondello, the former Nassau County Republican Committee chair and ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. Mondello died Monday at 84.

The funeral mass is set for Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. at Chapel of St. Dominic’s  on Anstice Street in Oyster Bay, according to Francis P. DeVine Funeral Home.

“Ambassador Joe Mondello was a soldier, public official and devoted family man who lived an extraordinary life of service to Nassau County, and the nation as a whole,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement.

“He was also one of the most decent, and patriotic men I’ve ever known,” Blakeman said. “My prayers are with his wife Linda, his children, and his many grandchildren who he loved so much.”

Mondello chaired Nassau’s GOP committee for 30 years, from 1992 to 2004. He chaired the New York Republican State Committee from 2006 to 2009.

From 1979 to 1987, Mondello served as a councilman of the Town of Hempstead.  In January 1987, Mr. Mondello was appointed Hempstead presiding supervisor, and voters returned him to office in 1989 and 1991.  He left that office in 1993 to serve as Nassau Downs’ chairman of the board and president. In 1994, he chaired Gov. George Pataki’s transition team.

Mondello earned his BA from Hofstra University in 1962.  He went on to teach in the East Meadow school system and later became a probation officer in Nassau County.  He earned law degree from  New England School of Law in 1969.

An honorary chief of the Levittown Fire Department, Mondello was a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, the former District Attorneys’ Association, the Nassau Lawyers’ Association, the Columbian Lawyers’ Association, New York State District Attorneys’ Association, and the Criminal Bar Association.

He is survived by his wife, the former Linda Elizabeth Crabtree, and daughters Elizabeth Mondello and Lisa Ostuni. He is predeceased by his son Joseph Mondello Jr.